[Review] Kingston MobileLite Wireless

Kingston is a renowned maker of memory and storage solutions. To meet demands of the mobile consumer, Kingston has released the MobileLite Wireless (MLW), described as a reader, media streamer and USB charger. Multi-talented? Indeed.

Design and build

MobileLite Wireless is a small, lightweight unit, measuring 12.5 x 6 x 1.6cm and weighs just 98g. It resembles very much like an ultra-slim external hard drive, although much lighter.

On one side is the solitary SD card slot, and on the opposite end, a full USB 2.0 and micro-USB slot. On top is a row of LED indicators – power, wireless connection and internet. The power indicator has three different colours to denote different levels of charge – green, amber and red.

Below the buttons, on the side is the tactile power button, with a reset button alongside it.

Nothing out of the norm with the design, just practical and sized just right for portability.

Software

The MobileLite Wireless app is available for Android and iOS users, for free. Once downloaded, the app presents you with five pages of instructions to get the device up and running.

The app is functional and simple, nothing fancy and works as advertised. The main dashboard shows the MobileLite Wireless device and its IP on the network.

Below shows Local Storage, which is either SD card or a USB thumbdrive plugged in.

Click on the SD card or thumbdrive and a list of file names will appear, giving you access to all files/data in the card or thumbdrive.

Clicking on the arrow beside the filename will give you options to share the file on Facebook, Twitter, Email or Move/Copy/Delete the file.

Click on settings and you will be able to rename the device, enable visibility of the Wi-Fi network, change channel, turn on WPA2 security (I recommend that you do) or also connect the device to an existing network to act as a regular acces point.

Performance

The MobileLite Wireless works as an SD card reader, media streaming device and a battery backup. So where does it really excel?

Personally I feel the MLW would appeal to two types of people.

Firstly, owner of digital cameras which do not have Wi-Fi or direct ability to view/share photos and videos without tethering, or buying a Wi-Fi enabled memory card like the Eye-Fi.

Secondly, smartphone owners who need additional storage for their devices. With the MLW, storage is pretty much limitless as you’ll be able to easily plug in additional SD cards or thumbdrives to extend storage further.

The SD card slot supports SD, SDHC and SDXC cards. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a micro-SD slot, however, Kingston is kind enough to include a microSD adapter with the package.

I found removing an SD card from the spring-loaded slot sometimes difficult, and you may need some long fingernails to give it a good pokey-pokey before it slides out. Hope Kingston can improve on this in future iterations.

As a plus, the MLW also acts as a battery backup. With a 1,800mAh rated Li-Polymer battery it can by itself last up to 5 hours, or able to charge a smartphone to about 50% charge.

I wished it had a bigger battery though, a starting point of 3,000mAh would be fantastic, so that using it can at least fully charge up a smartphone.

The MLW supports Wi-Fi 802.11g/n with WPA2 security. I/O performance over the air isn’t spectacular but fast enough I reckon, with speeds ranging from 12-15Mbps. Note that by default it is unsecured, I highly recommend you go to Settings within the app and have it secured with a WPA2 password.

Disappointingly there’s no Windows Phone app, so I was unable to use the MLW with my Lumia 1520. However, it does work flawlessly with my Lenovo K900 and iPad 2.

Pros

3-in-1 device that works as promised

Lightweight and small

MobileLite Wireless app easy to use

Easy to setup, easy to use

Cons

No Windows Phone app

Battery capacity could be bigger

Verdict

The MobileLite Wireless is an excellent multi-function device, made for mobile warriors. Despite its few shortcomings, the MLW is a handy accessory to have and should appeal to smartphone and tablet users who need additional storage or need to access their data/media immediately from their digital cameras without the hassle of tethering.

It’s an accessory that’s become something of a ‘don’t leave home without it’ item since I received it for review two weeks ago.

Pricing and availability

The MobileLite Wireless is available at Lazada for RM169.00 (SRP). RM139.00.*

*Lazada has informed that they’ve reduced the price of the MLW to RM139.00. Nice!